


The Space Between

by TachyonStar



Category: Phantasy Star Online 2
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-04
Updated: 2014-10-04
Packaged: 2018-02-19 19:42:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2400548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TachyonStar/pseuds/TachyonStar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Trance's "other side" isn't just good for battle. It has the power to connect people's minds as well. (Spoilers for ep 2-5 and 2-EX.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Space Between

**Author's Note:**

> More silly Trance plot. He's had a Darker infection for a long while, and thanks to lots of recent stress, it's gone from just taking over his mind and body when it kicks in to actually turning him into what's basically a Falz-like entity. It just couldn't resist the urge to bash Elder around a little when he ended up in the Darker Nest, nor could it resist being a brat and connecting Trance and Gettemhart's consciousnesses for the duration.
> 
> It was naturally quite unrepentant afterward, as one might expect of a naughty entity of darkness.
> 
> I'm also not all that great at writing grr arg, so Gettemhart is a bit mellower than seen in-game. I figure, if anything, having ultimate evil running around in someone's body might just make them a little less inclined to be all grr arg.

Trance wasn't entirely sure he knew just what was going on any more.

He'd begun feeling strangely lightheaded upon seeing Elder, that traitorous darkness inside him suddenly clamoring for gods only knew what, and he'd closed his eyes for just a second to get his bearings...only to open them again to a blank, featureless landscape, devoid of anything except a faint illumination that seemed to come from nowhere. What had happened, he wondered? Did he pass out without realizing? Was he dead? (He hadn't felt anything, but...) Where was Melphonsina? And more importantly...where was _he_?

"...Pretty lame joke, huh? Ending up here like this." The voice from behind Trance startled him, and he only just managed not to fall flat on his face as he jumped slightly, turning wide-eyed in disbelieving shock. It couldn't be...but the figure standing there was painfully familiar, smirking at him in a way that was somehow both comforting and unnerving. "Don't start, I didn't expect this either. But what can you do when someone apparently decides to play God and screw around with people's minds..."

He swallowed hard, his vision blurring, something deep in his chest beginning to ache. "Gettemhart..."

"Yeah, it's me. Don't go getting all excited now." Gettemhart snorted derisively, waving a hand in an oddly helpless sort of gesture. "I know what you're thinking, and the answer's no. You're not dead, I'm still trapped, who knows why we're even here, who knows how long we'll _be_ here. So shut your mouth before a fly gets in there and make the most of this little...opportunity."

Trance blinked a few times, then obediently shut his hanging-open mouth and took a deep breath, feeling rather foolish all of a sudden. Really, of all the reactions he could have had, 'standing there gaping like an idiot' would not have been his first conscious choice. "...S-so, wait a minute. Does this mean..." he felt that strange ache in his chest again, and almost couldn't manage to finish his sentence. "If you're here...are you...alive?"

"Sure looks that way, doesn't it?" Gettemhart gave him a sardonic smile, arms spreading wide in a mix of a shrug and a silent 'what can you do'. "As alive as I'm ever gonna get with that damn bastard running around in my body, anyway. Hell of a screwed-up existence, I'm telling you..." But he quickly abandoned that train of thought, folding his arms and staring at Trance with an unreadable expression. "Now it's my turn for a question. What the hell are _you_ doing here?"

"...I don't really know," Trance admitted, turning his head away a little, not wanting to see the exasperated look he was sure to get in response. "I wasn't even trying to get here...something hijacked the ship, I guess. I was just going out for a field survey, but I ended up here with Sina..." The familiar nickname slipped out before he could stop it, and he instinctively tensed a little, but a quick nervous glance at Gettemhart only showed the same carefully-blank face, so he dared to go on. "S-she said it was okay if I call her that, I...I've been trying to help her out, that's all, really..."

"...Sina, huh." There was no anger there; only a detached, distant sort of calm, Gettemhart's eyes shifting to the odd darkness above. "Funny you should mention that, because that was my next question. Already heard she was doing fine...guess this just confirms it." He sighed, closed his eyes and was quiet for a long moment, sounding a bit more like himself when he spoke again. "So you're taking care of her for me, huh? Why am I not surprised? You and your little hero deal, protect everyone, protect every _thing_...looks like you still haven't gotten over that, have you? It's gonna get you killed one of these days if you keep that up."

"...Yeah, I know." Oddly enough, Trance found himself relaxing, a faint, sad smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "I know...I'm an idiot. You don't have to tell me that. But...I guess it's the least I could do. And for the record, she started it." Realizing just a bit late how that would sound, he hurried on, "I mean, she asked me if I'd have lunch with her one day. Said she didn't want to be alone...I couldn't say no. We talked a lot, and...why are you looking at me like that?"

Gettemhart just raised an eyebrow, not bothering to try and hide his amusement. "If I didn't know any better, I'd have to pound your head into the sand for getting too attached."

"Getting too--" Trance reddened abruptly when he realized what Gettemhart was insinuating, and only just resisted the urge to flail. "I-it's not like that! I swear! She's like a little sister to me, I-I'd never...all I wanted to do was help her out a little, really...!"

"I said, if I didn't know any better. Geez, you haven't changed a bit." But Gettemhart only seemed more amused by that, taking a few leisurely steps closer. "You breathe a word of this to anyone and I'll beat you to a pulp...but I'm kinda happy, you know. Not just anyone would step up to take care of her. She wouldn't _let_ just anyone do that. So you should feel honored."

Surprised, Trance blinked slowly, then nodded and let the tension flow out of his shoulders, slumping a little. "...I guess we kind of understand each other...that's probably it."

"More than you think." Gettemhart made a sour face now, letting out an explosive breath and abruptly turning his back to Trance, staring upward at nothing again. "Forget that. Sina's fine, that's all I care about. And obviously _you're_ fine, not that I care about you. So that covers everything, doesn't it? Good. We done here? No damn time to waste standing here talking."

"Huh? No, wait--" Trance reached out automatically, but caught himself, lowering his hand and pretending his fingers weren't trembling, trying desperately to think of something to talk about just to keep them both there a little longer. "...You're wrong, you know. I'm...not fine. I..." Well, it was at least worth a _try_ , he supposed. "I know you don't care...that's alright. I just want you to listen. Maybe...I'll feel a little better afterwards. Please, just..." 

"You're just gonna talk even if I say no, aren't you." It wasn't quite a question, and Gettemhart's tone suggested he was rolling his eyes in irritation.

Trance made a nervous sound, half laugh and half sigh, and inhaled slowly, gathering his thoughts as best he could. "...So I told you before," he started, absently rubbing at his right forearm, imagining he could feel a sting of pain there. "About the infection. You've seen what it can do to me...well, it got worse. A hell of a lot worse." He already felt exhausted from the weight of his words, but went determinedly on anyway. "Now, when it takes over...I guess I should put it this way. You and I have something in common now. And it's probably only a matter of time before we're...the same."

Gettemhart was silent for a long moment, then turned, giving him that unreadable stare again. "So what you're saying is..."

His throat painfully dry, Trance nodded, forcing himself to keep eye contact and not turn away. "Omega," he said, and pretended he didn't feel like he'd just been knifed in the chest by saying it. "That's - apparently what it's called."

"...Great. Did you miss me so much you had to go and get yourself that far in over your head?" Gettemhart's tone was disgusted, but his eyes told a different story, something there that looked rather suspiciously like a wisp of concern. "You're a moron. What the hell even happened?"

"...Everything. Everything happened." Trance suddenly felt so drained it was making him dizzy, and he closed his eyes, never mind the lack of any actual scenery to cause any visual confusion. "Where am I even supposed to start? Since you've been...gone...everything's just gone to hell. I've been sent repeatedly back in time, I keep turning into a damn minion-of-darkness wannabe, people I think I can trust just keep turning on me, the core of the goddamn mothership asked me to _kill her_ so she wouldn't be stolen - I swear I don't even know what's going on any more, I don't have time to think, I hardly have time to even breathe and I...I hate this. I just want...to fall apart for a while...I just want all this craziness to stop." Bringing a hand up and rubbing it quickly across his eyes, he was relieved to find them dry, slowly opening them again and trying not to feel like his legs - his whole body, really - had turned to mush from the force of the helpless emotion he was releasing. "...Sure, there's some good things in there, but I can't even focus on that. I'm just..."

"A moron," Gettemhart cut him off, striding forward, and he automatically flinched when a hand came at him but relaxed again when it closed firmly on his shoulder instead of striking him. "Always have been, always will be. That's the problem with Zeno, the problem with you. Neither one of you knows how to open your goddamn mouth and say no when you can't handle it anymore." He paused for a moment, expression sour again, looking as if he hadn't quite meant to say that, but it was too late to take it back now. "Anyone can tell you're about to break. Have you even looked at yourself lately? Grow a damn backbone and do the smart thing for once, _not_ the idiotic thing."

Trance let out a small hiccup of a laugh before he could stop himself, his eyes finally starting to well up with tears, and he blinked them back as best he could, shaking his head. "Zeno - I forgot to mention. He's a Pillar now. Number four. I don't envy him..."

Gettemhart's hand twitched on his shoulder, the only outward sign of what was probably an unexpected flare of surprise. "You're kidding me. How the hell did that happen?"

"Not kidding--" Trance dashed his hand across his eyes again, looking up, feeling rather self-conscious but figuring he owed the respect of eye contact right about now. "When you - well, after that, I...like I said, I went back in time. That was the first time...that's when Maria and Sarah - that's Maria's apprentice, I guess - helped me save his life. Then Maria started training him in secret, so Echo wouldn't know he was alright, it was too dangerous to let her know...a-and he showed up when I was trying to get to the mothership's core. To Shion..." Even saying her name swamped him with a wave of guilty regret, and his legs gave out, leaving him no choice but to slump forward against Gettemhart's chest. "...Hey, you know what it's like...don't you? When everything that's in front of you...is just pure, excruciating hell...but the only thing you can do is go on. You understand, don't you..."

"...Don't presume you know me that well, you bastard." But Gettemhart's voice had gone quiet, nothing like the normal burst of anger that would normally come against such a presumption, and after a few long moments, he wrapped an arm absently about Trance's back to support him. "...You already know the answer to that. Still haven't lost your habit of asking obvious questions, have you?"

Another laugh escaped Trance, choking off into a sob, and he hid his face in Gettemhart's coat, strangely glad for the wave of familiar embarrassment he felt. "Y-you'd be disappointed if I did..."

"Hah...maybe just a little." Gettemhart snorted quietly, saying nothing about the muffled sobs Trance was now letting out into his coat, though whether it was out of sympathy or because he knew it was futile to try and stop the crying was up in the air. "You're never gonna change, are you? I can see it now. You're either gonna get yourself killed by being an idiot, or you'll end up in some big high mucky-muck leadership position because you're an idiot. At this point, I have no damn idea which one, but you're screwed either way. Sucks to be you."

"Yeah--" Trance couldn't stop himself; he started laughing in earnest through the tears, his hands fisting tight into the front of Gettemhart's coat, his entire body shaking. "I - I really missed you, you know..."

"Because you're a sentimental idiot who doesn't know any better." Gettemhart let out another snort, this one more acerbic, though his arm tightened around Trance in an awkward sort of acknowledgement. "I'll admit this much. Without you there to piss me off and poke your nose where it doesn't belong, things are boring as hell. I guess you got me used to your own special brand of idiocy - I should beat your damn face in for that."

The tears mostly gone now, Trance looked up again, drying his face on his sleeve and smiling. "...Have to catch me first. Except I guess you already did."

"Several times over," Gettemhart replied dryly, a sharp smirk pulling at the corner of his mouth when Trance reddened just noticeably. "Don't you dare get any ideas. There's no damn time."

"I - I wasn't getting ideas!" Fairly sure he was rapidly turning red all the way up his ears, Trance cleared his throat awkwardly and tried to push away from Gettemhart to regain some composure, though his firm hold proved immovable. "...I'd like to, but - no, never mind that! L-let go of me, you're right, there's no time..."

Gettemhart raised an eyebrow, the smirk widening, and didn't move, just letting Trance struggle to get free. "...You'd _like_ to, huh?"

"Never mind! I said never mind! Don't...look at me like that..." Trance swallowed hard, his voice failing him at the predatory grin currently being directed at him, and ceased to struggle as Gettemhart's arm unwound from around him. "...I don't want to know...what you're thinking right now...do I?"

"Probably not," Gettemhart admitted, but didn't give him a chance to say anything more, seizing hold of his chin and kissing him firmly.

"--!" Instinctively freezing and going wide-eyed, Trance couldn't stop himself from vaguely thinking how familiar this felt - how very much like the _first_ time they'd met, like the unexpected, breath-stealing kiss Gettemhart had pushed on him then - and he found himself momentarily overwhelmed, his knees once more going weak and threatening to send him sprawling, only a desperate grab at the front of Gettemhart's coat saving him from such an undignified fate. Not that he supposed it was much more dignified to be so obviously affected, but he rather preferred staying upright to ending up flat on his face, even though his less-than-elegant solution meant he was snickered at quite obviously when Gettemhart finally drew back to let him breathe. "...Nn. Y'coulda warned me, you know..."

"Where's the fun in that?" Gettemhart brushed the pad of his thumb across Trance's lower lip, then let go of him and stepped away, unable to help but smirk at the miffed little noise he made. "Can it. Take a look around - whatever the hell threw us in here is obviously at its limit. So, as much as I'd like to turn you into a mindless heap..." he interrupted himself with a sharp snort and a shrug, turning away. "...Guess I probably ought to thank you. This is the most entertained I've been in who knows how long."

"I'd hope so," Trance shot back before he could really think about it, obediently glancing around and letting out a soundless sigh. Gettemhart was right; the darkness was closing in, and he was starting to feel his consciousness waver, like he was on the brink of sleep or a brief faint. "I, um - just one more thing. I've wanted to tell you this for a while, but..."

Gettemhart glanced back at him, eyes narrowed. "Hell no. Don't you dare."

Trance shut his mouth in surprise, opened it again, shut it again and took a deep breath, letting the tension out of his shoulders and slumping. "...You already know, huh?"

"Kind of hard not to." For the first time, Gettemhart looked briefly awkward, but it was quickly gone. "Look. I'm not going to say I don't appreciate the sentiment - and you better appreciate _that._ But I don't think you realize how damn dangerous that is for you."

"...No. I do realize." Trance shook his head, gathering his courage, straightening and forcing himself to look Gettemhart dead in the eye. "I'm not...the same naive idiot I was when you met me. I know what I'm getting myself into. What I've already gotten myself into. That's why..."

Gettemhart heaved an irritated sigh, shaking his head, and turned on his heel, closing the distance between them once more and silencing Trance by pushing another short, biting kiss on him. "Now keep your damn mouth shut and get the hell out of here before I clock you but good, you moron."

"That's...completely not fair, you know." But Trance couldn't help but smile, albeit sadly, slowly nodding and taking a few hesitant steps back. "Hey...we'll see each other again. I'm sure of it. So wait for me."

"As if I could do anything else..." Gettemhart rolled his eyes, but he was smirking - or so it seemed - as the stifling blackness finally closed in completely, obscuring him from view.

Dizzy now, feeling as though the world was collapsing around him, Trance brushed his fingers across his lips, then closed his eyes and let everything simply fade away.


End file.
